Saturday, April 04, 2009

West Ham 2 Sunderland 0

It was a very even first half in terms of possession and chances on goal but West Ham edged it purely on quality of finishing.

Sunderland had a few good long range efforts on goal. As early as the eighth minute Leadbitter came close, just missing wide of the left-hand post, from 25 yards. In the 20th minute it was Malbranque's chance to shoot from just outside the box. His effort just missing wide of the right-hand post.

Before scoring West Ham came close from a Di Michele shot from the edge of the area which flew just right of the goal in the 22nd minute. With half-time approaching, in the 42nd minute West Ham hit Sunderland on the break. Green found Di Michele, who flicked the ball onto Boa Morte. Boa Morte then passed the ball across the six yard box, where Stanislas ran onto the ball to score his first goal for West Ham from just inside the six yard box.

Six minutes into the second half. Di Michele played a nice ball from the half way line to Tristan, whose shot from 25 yards forced the keeper into a save. From the resulting corner Noble found Tomkins who, from just about the penalty spot, headed home West Ham's second.

In the 59th minute West Ham won a free kick just outside and to the right of the Sunderland area. Noble crossed the free-kick to the far post, where Upson rose and headed across the goal. The ball looked like it might creep in but was just saved by the keeper. From the resulting corner Tomkins again headed towards goal but his header was blocked by the keeper. The ball bounced out to Boa Morte, just outside the box, who fired the ball low back towards the goal, forcing another save from the keeper.

In the 68th minute Spector collided with a Sunderland player. The two players banged heads and Spector also seemed to land awkwardly on his shoulder. Spector's injury held up the game for six minutes before he was finally stretchered off with concussion. Collins came on for the injured American.

In the 78th minute Bardsley managed a shot on goal from outside the area. The ball flew straight at Green who spilled the ball but luckily had enough time to recover. In the 81st minute Dyer came on for Di Michele. A minute later and, after some good play from West Ham, a Boa Morte shot from just outside the box was deflected wide of the goal, where Dyer spun and shot from a couple of yards in from the touchline, wide left of the goal. His shot was deflected wide for a corner.

In the 89th minute West Ham broke down the left. The ball came to Tristan who ran with the ball towards the area. He ignored two West Ham players in space to his left before trying a chipped shot from just outside the area. His shot just flew over the bar before landing on the net. Stanislas was then replaced by Lopez.

After netting the second goal West Ham never really looked in trouble. What a day for West Ham's Academy and Tony Carr's boys

2 Comments:

Good win and even better to see our academy players doing well. Just wish Sears got a game .....or bangs in couple goals before end of the season. Overall though things are looking good at the moment. IRONS!

Fantastic 3 points. When I saw that not only the long term injured players were out,but also Parker and Kovac,I thought we were in big trouble. Saving grace was that Kenwyn Jones did not start. Superb overall team performance with a couple top drawer individual performances. Every single player stepped up to the plate. Credit to the managers. This shud have been a difficult fixture given the injuries and Sunderland needing a result,but we made it look easy.